Running a Guest Science Application

March 22, 2024 ยท View on GitHub

This readme assumes you have followed the Guest Science Developer Guide and the astrobee/simulation/readme.md.

It also assumes that astrobee_android is checked out in $ANDROID_PATH, and astrobee source is checked out in $SOURCE_PATH.

This readme teaches you how to run a Guest Science Application by running one of the Guest Science examples. Once you have your own Guest Science Application, it should be trival to use these instructions and replace the example name with your project's name. Please follow all four sections. However, if you are doing Java only development, please use the Java only subsections and if you are using the emulator or HLP board, please use the Android subsections.

1. Setup

In every terminal you use, be sure to set up your environment. If you forgot how to do this, follow the Setting up your Environment section of the astrobee/simulation/running_the_sim.md.

Java Only

Coming soon!!!

Android

Please start your emulator or HLP board and make sure you can communicate with it (adb and network i.e. ping). Please refer to the emulator or the HLP board instructions if you forget how to do this.

Install JDK 8 and set up JAVA_PATH

  sudo apt install openjdk-8-jdk
  # Check the location of where Java is installed
  whereis java
  export JAVA_PATH="insert here the path obtained from the previous command"

Build and Install the Guest Science Manager

  cd $ANDROID_PATH/core_apks/guest_science_manager
  ANDROID_HOME=$HOME/Android/Sdk ./gradlew assembleDebug
  adb install -g -r activity/build/outputs/apk/activity-debug.apk

Important Please make sure to type the g before r. If you don't, Android will not grant the APK the right permissions and the APK will fail to excute.

Build and Install the Test Simple Trajectory Example

You will be running the test simple trajectory example. This example undocks the Astrobee and then moves it in a rectangular shape.

  cd $ANDROID_PATH/gs_examples/test_simple_trajectory
  ANDROID_HOME=$HOME/Android/Sdk ./gradlew assembleDebug
  adb install -g -r app/build/outputs/apk/app-debug.apk

Important Please make sure to type the g before r. If you don't, Android will not grant the APK the right permissions and the APK will fail to excute.

Set ROS Environment Variables

Please open two terminals and do the following in both terminals:

  export ROS_IP=$(getent hosts llp | awk '{ print \$1 }')
  export ROS_MASTER_URI=http://${ROS_IP}:11311
  echo $ROS_IP

Ensure you can ping/connect to the ip echoed.

When you get to section 2 (Run the Simulator), use terminal 1. When you get to section 4 (Guest Science Commanding), use terminal 2.

2. Run the Simulator

Please start the simulator. If you forgot how to do this, follow the Running the Simulator section of the astrobee/simulation/running_the_sim.md.

3. Start the Guest Science Manager

Java Only

Coming soon!!!

Android

  # Once you use 'hard_stop' to close the gs_manager, you will have to use 'restart' afterwards
  # instead of 'start' if you want to use the gs_manger again. And so, for convenience,
  # it's easier to use 'restart'. 
  $ANDROID_PATH/scripts/gs_manager.sh restart

4. Guest Science Commanding

  cd $SOURCE_PATH/tools/gds_helper/src
  python gds_simulator.py

If you encounter an issue running the GDS simulator, then you may need to update the file. Depending on your environment you may use the following command git checkout develop -- gds_simulator.py.

The GDS simulator is interactive. It will prompt you for the next step.

  1. Press any key to grab control
  2. Select the Guest Science Application (GSA) you are trying to run
  3. Type b and press Enter to start the GSA
  4. Press Enter to stop listening for data
  5. Press any key to get back to the application menu

If you want to see the robot move, command it to do so:

  1. Type d and press Enter to send a custom guest science command
  2. Type 1 and press Enter to run the trajectory

Now Astrobee will undock and move in a rectangle.

5. Stop

In the terminal running the GDS simulator, please do the following:

  1. If needed, press Enter to stop listening for data
  2. If needed, press any key to get back to the application menu
  3. Type c and press Enter to stop the GSA
  4. Press Enter to stop listening for data
  5. Press any key to get back to the application menu
  6. Type f and press Enter to exit the GDS simulator

In the terminal running the simulator, enter Ctrl+c

Java Only

Coming soon!!!

Android

$ANDROID_PATH/scripts/gs_manager.sh hard_stop

To close the emulator, click on the x symbol.